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Hello everyone. I wanted to ask if any experts know if this is just a regular olive species or a rarer olive species. I’m only so interested because this is my first bonsai and i paid $160 for it about a month ago. I just went to another bonsai store today and noticed the had olives with much bugger trunks in the same sized pots for only $50. I guess part of my question is, is there any obvious reason why this olive would be so much more expensive at this size compared to the larger olives I saw for cheaper or did I just get ripped off?
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?Hello Mike.

I don't have olives, but for me it looks like it's just a matter of who you bought from, one could consider things like branch movement and how long it took to build the tree (which for that one couldn't be much long).
I think?it was just overpriced, unfortunatelly...
I mean, yes there are different varieties, but they much more about production characteristics.

Maybe someone else around here that has more experience with olives can tell if there's any difference there...

Ripped off.

it is a European Olive, very young plant and sorry you paid far too much for it.

Thank you so much for your reply. So far what I’ve found is that I have a “wild olive” or?olea sylvestris as opposed to a olea Europaea.(olea europaea being more common and produces fruit.) The wild olive is more sought after for bonsai do to its small leaves giving it a fuller look. Also they do not grow as big as the more common olea europaea.

I did fail to mention that this is my first bonsai. I have trees growing from seeds( black & blue spruce) but wanted a tree that was already sort of established so I can practice everything that comes with growing bonsai.
Again thank you for your reply’s! ?

You live and you learn huh. I guess that’s what happens when you get impatient. Hahah oh well

It's not that easy to choose trees or evaluate them, and it's much harder when you're a begginer...

Unfortunatelly it's quite common to see sellers overpricing trees, lying about the trees' age and such.

Just hope you don't give up because of that.
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The correct name of the wild olive is olea oleaster. Due to thousends of years of domestication and cross polination it is not really possible to find a pure oleaster. BTW, as far as I understand oleaster produces fruits as well. It makes no sense that a cross polination would be a problem for the species if they did not produce fruits that carry seeds.

Olea europea sylvestris, is what we call the "wild" olives today. But as said, that is not a wild variety, just a wild mix of the wild olive and several different domesticated olives. And it does curry fruits.

This is how I have understood the situation. But I am not an olive expert. In any case, I do not think that it is very easy to distinguish them from each others. Using foliage only is impossible. If you have fruits and an olive expert at hand it may be possible.

Yes, further research I have found this:

Olea oleaster, a wild olive whose cultivar "Olivastro" is used as rootstock for O. europaea; formerly classified as the subspecies O. europaea oleaster. By far the best type for bonsai cultivation. Tiny leaves, vertical growing twigs when mature. Good examples will have spectacular bark and natural deadwood. Generally collected from the wild in costal regions. Unusually for a dwarf foliage type oleaster is extremely vigorous and forgiving. Most expensive but this is the one to buy!

Olea sylvestris, a small-fruited wild olive of the Mediterranean region. Medium size dark green shiny leaves generally more rounded than oleaster. Looser growing habit. More susceptible to fungal problems in very damp conditions than oleaster. Slower growing than oleaster but with care can produce a very impressive bonsai tree.

Olea europaea, the primary type of olive cultivated for fruit production. Most come from old olive groves. Large oblong grey leaves, very loose habit. Tolerant of most conditions. Good quality bark is rare with this type. Big cheap trees are often available in general nurseries and garden centres. In the UK this type is very poor, generally showing weak growth and susceptible to fungal probelms like peacock spot and pest infestation particularly scale insect. Very hard to produce dense foliage masses without very strong sustained sunshine. Best avoided for bonsai use in the UK.

Based off this I’m thinking(and hoping) it is the subspecies olea oleaster. I guess I’ll have to let it grow more to have a better analysis. Who knew I’d be researching so much just to identify a subspecies. I feel I’ll have more general knowledge of olives than the average due to this.